Do you know Dewey? An introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification System John F. Kennedy...

Do you know Dewey?

An introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification

System

John F. Kennedy Elementary School Library

You can find books at the Kennedy School Library,

the Roosevelt Middle School Library, the Carnegie-Stout Public Library, and MOST libraries thanks to the

Dewey Decimal Classification (also know as “DDC”).

It is used to locate and store books on shelves in the library.

Meet Dewey

• Melvil Dewey was a librarian who invented a DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM for library books.

• This classification system is called the Dewey Decimal System!

• Melvil Dewey also founded the American Library Association in 1876 and published the first Library Journal AND he opened the first library school in 1887!

• Libraries would not be the same without him!

QUICK QUESTIONTIME!

• What is the difference between FICTION

and NON-FICTION?

FICTION books are made up by the author and are NOT TRUE.

NON-FICTION books are about

REAL things, people, places and events and

ARE TRUE.

Now that you know who Dewey is and have reviewed fiction vs. non-fiction,

let’s get started on learning more about this famous classification system!

How to find FICTION and NON-FICTION books in the library:

• FICTION books are found in alphabetical order by the author’s last name.

All the books written by the same author will be located together in the

fiction collection.

• NON-FICTION books are found according to SUBJECT.

If you wanted to find a book about skateboarding, you will find ALL books about skateboarding in the same

area. Books written by DIFFERENT authors about

ONE subject.

(Non-fiction books are not shelved by the author’s

name).

796.22

is the call number for

books about skateboarding

Call numbers are your friends!

• A call number is a group of numbers and/or letters that tell you the location of a book in a library.

• Just like you have a street address in your city, a book has a shelf address in a library!

If you have been invited to someone’s house, you need to know the address to be able to find it.

A book address is it’s CALL NUMBER.

• A call number is located on the spine of a book. Once you find the call number from the online catalog (we’ll learn how to do that later), it’s time to go find your book!

The Left to Right, Top to Bottom Rule!

1. To find a book on the shelf, start at the left on the top shelf and move to the right until the shelf end.

2. Go to the next shelf underneath and do the same!

3. When you get to the bottom shelf, move UP to the top shelf of the next SECTION and do the same!!

Think of the library shelves as bookcase sections.

Left to right and top to bottom.

FICTION BOOKS• Fiction books are indicated with an “F” on the first

line (for Fiction) and the second line indicates the first 3 letters of the author’s LAST name:

F

DAH

This is what the spine label would look like for a book written by Roald Dahl.

Use the online catalog to locate the shelf area for a fiction book by searching by

TITLE or AUTHOR. . .

• TITLE SEARCHES should be the exact title, if possible. Example: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

•AUTHOR SEARCHES are done using the last name first. Example: Dahl, Roald.

NON-FICTION BOOKS

• A call number for a non-fiction book looks like this:

796.2

HAW

This is the call number for a book about skateboarding, written by Tony Hawk.

For non-fiction books, BOTH the subject call NUMBER and the first three LETTERS of the author’s name, help to

keep the library organized!

Use the online catalog to find the call number of a subject you are looking for . . .

Once you have the number for the book you need, you can go find the right shelf.

Look for the painted bricks to guide you!

The books on each shelf are arranged in number order on the first line and by the first 3 letters of the author’s name

on the second line.

398.2

BRE

398.2

GRI

398.25

BRE

They are in number order FIRST (to keep the subject or topics together), and

alphabetically by the author’s last name.

You will probably notice that when you find a specific book, other books shelved around it are usually books about similar

subjects.

That’s how the DDC is arranged—by SUBJECT.

All of the books about insects

are near each other on the shelf, all of the books about

horses are near each other,

all of the books about weather

are near each other

and on and on and on and on!

000 - Generalities100 - Philosophy & Psychology200 - Religion300 - Social Science400 - Language500 - Natural Science & Mathematics600 - Technology & Applied Sciences700 - Arts800 - Literature900 - Geography & History

The DDC is divided into 10 “categories” or subject areas.

The major Dewey Decimal divisions are:

You’ll see all of these numbers on theLEFT side of the decimal point.

But what about the numbers on the RIGHT side of the decimal point?

796.22

The numbers on the right side are used to divide a specific subject into

EVEN MORE specific parts of a subject. •700’s ~ Arts and Recreation

•796 ~ Athletic & outdoor sports & games

•796.22 ~ Skateboarding

•796.32 ~ Football

•796.33 ~ Baseball

A Dewey call number always has three numbers to the left of the decimal. To the right of the decimal, there is no limit on number.

The more numbers you add to the right of the decimal, the more specific the subject is!

When doing a subject search about baseball, you will find both fiction and non-fiction book titles:

Baseball Jokes and Riddles by Matt Christopher 818 CHR

The Catcher’s Mask by Matt Christopher F CHR

Baseball Just For Kids by Jerry Kasoff 796.357 KAS

Baseball’s Hall of Fame by Harvey Frommer 920 FRO

Casey Back at Bat by Dan Gutman 811 GUT

Abner and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman F GUT

Look at the call number to find the type of book you are looking for!

. . .just because it is IN the nonfiction section does not mean it is NOT FICTION.

Don’t let this confuse you! ALL books COULD be classified under the Dewey Decimal System . . .

Some examples of books in the DDC that are fiction:

Folk and Fairy Tales398.2

and

Poetry811

The Dewey Decimal Classification number for fiction books is 813.

Dividing the library into fiction chapter books, picture books, and biographies helps to further

divide the library so that books are easier to find!

What have you learned about the DDC?

What section of the library would YOU find the following books in the Kennedy

School Library?

000 - Generalities100 - Philosophy &

Psychology200 - Religion300 - Social Science400 - Language500 - Natural Science &

Mathematics600 - Technology & Applied Sciences700 - Arts800 - Literature900 - Geography & History

Sign Language for Kids by Lora Heller

419

HEL




A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

811

SIL




Dubuque, Iowa: Then & Now by John Tigges

977.739

TIG

Books can really take you

places!

Do you know Dewey? An introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification System John F. Kennedy...

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